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DeKalb County Highway Committee recommends new truck

DeKALB – The DeKalb County Highway Committee will make a recommendation to the County Board to buy a new cab and chassis.

Wayne Davey, support services manager for DeKalb County Highway Department, said the truck will mostly be used as a snow plow. It also will be used to haul gravel when making road shoulders during the summer.

The new truck – a Kenworth T370 Series Tandem Axle Cab and Chassis – would cost $102,436.02, if the proposal gets approved by the County Board. The truck itself costs $99,498, but the warranties bump up the price. Originally $125,000 was budgeted for the purchase.

The equipment to convert the truck into a snow plow has to be bid on, too, Davey said. The bid for the box, wing, plow, a frame and hydraulics will happen in February.

“It’ll at least be another $100,000,” Davey said. “We budget about $250,000 for the whole truck.”

Davey said the plow in the front of the truck weighs more than a car.

The DeKalb County Highway Department recently won an American Public Works Association award recently for its Peace Road and Illinois 64 construction project. The department will receive the award in mid-January.

Schwartz was happy to report the win Thursday night.

“We’re really pleased to be recognized,” he said.

The county went toe-to-toe with McHenry, Kane, Kendall and DuPage counties. Now DeKalb County will face the rest of the Chicago-area projects, Davey said.

“We’ll see how good we do there,” Davey said.

The award recognizes: Good construction management techniques, completion of the project on schedule, safety performance and community relations by minimizing public inconvenience because of construction

Davey said the committee also reached a consensus to encourage County Engineer Nathan Schwartz to proceed with a recommendation to install flashing speed signs – which show if a driver is going faster than the speed limit or not – and residential district signs in the area along Plank Road.

Source: The Daily Chronicle

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